Lamb Curry with Cauliflower and Double Cilantro

posted by Kalyn Denny on August 23, 2007

I’ve previously confessed my intimidation about cooking Indian food, and admitted I’d likely use a product like Patak’s Curry Paste if I was making an Indian dish. The folks at Patak’s must have heard from other timid cooks like me; they’ve now published a cookbook designed to help people get more authentic results while using Patak’s jarred sauces for some of the dishes. Meena Pathak Celebrates Indian Cooking, was written by the wife of Kirit Pathak, from the family that owns Patak’s (they dropped the “h” in the product names.) If you cook authentic Indian food from scratch, you have my complete admiration, but if you like Indian food but don’t know much about cooking it like me, you’ll agree this is a great book, one I’ve now added to my ever-growing list of Cookbooks I’m Using. This recipe was adapted from the recipe for Lamb Shakuti on page 69, although you know how I am; after I’d simmered the curry I added some cauliflower, kind of on impulse, but it was a great idea. I served this with the whole wheat couscous I featured yesterday, and it was a delicious meal. If you don’t have the Patak’s Madras Curry Paste the recipe calls for, use any kind of hot curry paste or powder that appeals to you.Now I need to be telling you a bit about cilantro, since this is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Scott of Real Epicurean this week. I’m not sure what’s left to tell, since if you enter “cilantro” into my search bar in the upper left corner, you’ll get 347 search results for cilantro! (Maybe even more if this page has been indexed by the time you do it.) Let’s just summarize and say I’m mad for cilantro, enough so that I used both dried and fresh cilantro in this dish to increase the cilantro oomph. Dried cilantro is completely worthless as a substitute for fresh, but in a dish that’s simmered a while such as soup or this curry sauce, it can add a nice cilantro undertone.

In a large heavy pan,heat oil and saute onion about 5 minutes. Push onion to the side, then add lamb and brown about 5 minutes, turning a few times to lightly brown all sides.

Push lamb and onions to side, add garlic and ginger and cook about 1 minute. Then add tomatoes, water, agave or sugar, dried or fresh cilantro, curry paste, and salt to taste. Stir to combine, then reduce heat to very low and simmer covered for about 40 minutes.After 40 minutes, remove lid, add cauliflower and coconut milk and simmer just until cauliflower is barely tender, about 15-20 minutes. Stir in chopped cilantro, retaining 1-2 tablespoons to sprinkle on when serving. Cook 3-5 minutes more, remove from heat and serve hot.

South Beach Suggestions:
You could eat this alone as a phase one dinner for the South Beach Diet, but it would be more traditional to serve it with white rice, or even Couscous, as I did. Uncle Ben’s Converted Rice would be the best choice for a low-glycemic type of white rice.

Our friend in Spain is a great ‘curry’ cook – all from scratch. For his birthday party he had huge vats of both Thai and Indian curries, hot and not so hot. I had no idea there was such a wide range in curries.Yours looks delicious..346/347 cilantro, eh? Sigh…He puts ground coriandar seeds in his and I’m fine with that…hmmm

Yum…Indian food!!! I was spoiled though, and the first Indian food I ever ate was a friend’s mom’s home cookin’…now I’m so picky and have spent over 7 years figuring out how to cook all these things. This does look and sound soooo good though, and of course, lots of cilantro!!!

That curry looks amazing Kalyn! And I’m glad to know that book is a winner. I’ve been eyeing it up wondering if it’s any good or too semi-homemade for my tastes. But I do like Patak’s curry pastes, so it sounds like it would be worth a try.

Yikes. You can tell I am back at school when I can’t respond to comments all day long. Very long day today getting the classroom set up, but it’s finally coming together. I’m glad every one likes the sound of this; it was really good!

I feel for you Kalyn! I too love Indian food but have been dragging my feet about making a real curry from scratch…and I too LOVE Pataks products! I have seen that cookbook and have been thinking about getting it too 🙂 This curry of yours looks sublime! I also (ok, I swear I am not some crazy copycat!) love cilantro…the smell, the taste, everything about it! 🙂 This recipe is definitely getting bookmarked!

Cilantro, called ‘danja’ or ‘dania’ locally is a standard ingredient in any South African curry worth its name. It’s so wonderful to discover that our so called acquired tastes are loved by people all over the world. Thanks for sharing Kalyn.

This looks fabulous! I LOVE indian food, and thankfully it is also one of the cuisines that I can get when I move to Ghana for the next seven months. I have never had the lamb and cauliflower combo, though it sounds great!

This was AMAZING!!! and easy- I added lime juice (1, hand squeezed) and about 1/4 cup (probably less) of cider vinegar at the end, and it tasted just like a dish I would order at a restaurant. Maybe even better…

I just made a vegetarian version of this tonight, and added peas and potatoes. This is something that I never would have dreamed up myself, but it wowed me and my mom. I have just started to use coconut milk, and this was such a differend way to cook with it. Great idea, and this uses up a bunch of little odds and ends. A great stew!

My husband and I really enjoyed this curry. It was tasty and nutritious, made enough for two meals and was easy to make. That makes this a winner with me. I made the curry as per instructions with the exception of substituting maple syrup for the agave. Thanks for posting the recipe, I'll add it to my favorite recipes.